5 common sources of childhood anxiety that can affect little ones

Childhood is often described as the stage of play and fun, but this does not have to be the case.

In the same way that excess anxiety is among the most frequent psychological problems among adults, statistically it also affects the little ones in the house a lot, and if we add to this that they have fewer resources to manage these experiences without using anyone else, the need to understand their world to help and prevent this kind of problem.

Therefore, in this article we will do a review of the most common sources of childhood anxiety in boys and girls.

• Related article: "Educational psychology: definition, concepts and theories"

Common sources of childhood anxiety in children

Those are the day-to-day experiences that can easily lead to childhood anxiety.

1. Conflicts in the family environment

The family forms the social environment in which children should feel safe, but this does not happen in all cases. Some boys and girls learn to be constantly alert by being surrounded by arguments, fights and punishments, etc.

It should not be forgotten that mental health is not individual, but contextual, and that our emotional well-being, both in childhood and in our adulthood, is linked to what happens around us… Although with the difference that boys and girls have less room for maneuver to face stressful situations that occur at home on their own, as they have less freedom.

• You may be interested in: "The 6 stages of childhood (physical and mental development)"

2. Irrational fears

In many respects, children and adolescents think very differently from adults; It is not that they lack information or knowledge quantitatively, but also that their mind works in a qualitatively different way. Only in this way is it understood, for example, that up to certain ages it is normal for them to have imaginary friends or that their understanding of the world is clearly superstitious in many respects. To fill in your knowledge gaps, they use what is called magical thinking, and that consists of attributing intentions, emotions, motivations and thoughts to inanimate elements: objects, landscapes, plants, stars, etc.

In this way, they manage to make sense of their surroundings by grouping a series of complex elements (for example, what can be seen in the sky) into entities imaginary that group many of these elements forming units (for example, a magician that when transformed becomes the set of clouds that we can see Up there).

The downside to this is that the little ones are vulnerable to a series of irrational fears that in some cases they can generate anxiety and even problems sleeping. As parents, educators, and wellness professionals, it is important to help them cope with these fears without getting used to constantly flee from those elements (darkness, objects that generate fear, etc.).

3. An overload of tasks

Something that many parents unfortunately overlook is that the little ones need free time and play, with no other pretensions than to have fun and experiment. Not only is it not a waste of time, but it is his way of learning directly how the world works and personal relationships (in the case of the game with the group of friends).

Because, it is a serious mistake to fill our children's schedules with one after-school activity after another, something that sometimes falls to try that the little ones learn as much as possible from their first years of life. Not only is it counterproductive as a long-term learning project (it is difficult to enjoy these activities in a situation like this, and therefore self-motivation is low), but can also lead to stress and anxiety problems serious.

4. Misuse of social media

Social networks are one more area in which the youngest interact with each other and develop their own identity, especially in adolescence, the stage in which identification with a reference group (made up of young people of a similar age) is most important. But since this virtual environment is a world of extremes, the contents that show aesthetics and idealized lifestyles stand out above all.

This leads many minors to feel bad about their lives and to try to improve their self-esteem by “entering to compete” for the attention and validation of the children. others on these social networks, either by sharing their own content or constantly checking what others upload so as not to miss anything and be up to date last. This need to constantly be thinking about the logics of operation of social networks, whose contents are updated second by second, can arrive to generate anxiety: to see that the last publication we uploaded has not received too many interactions, to discuss with someone in a comment section, etc.

5. The habit of playing video games at all hours

Many video games have playable mechanics with a great ability to "hook" the player and make it difficult for them to detach from the screen. Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to this phenomenon, because, on the one hand, in the first years of life it is more difficult to regulate impulses putting long-term goals first, and on the other hand most of these games are visually designed narratively to attract the population younger.

This causes, for example, many children to feel discomfort and anxiety when they cannot be playing, or experience frustration or anger when they must interrupt a game to complete other school tasks or relatives, etc. Therefore, although video games are not bad in themselves, you have to make sure that their usage guidelines are correct.